Not many have heard of the new Swiss shoe care brand Siegol. Replace the first three letters and more recognise it: Burgol. Siegol is the new brand of the family who founded Burgol in the 1930s, but who, under dramatic forms, lost the right to the brand a few years ago.
I will not go into too much on the details here, and there are always different sides of a story, but now I have received the information from so many different independent sources that there is no doubt that the basics are correct. First a bit of history: As early as 1921, the first can of wax was mixed with the recipe that today has Siegol’s emblem. In 1936 Rudolph Järmann from Wichtrach in Switzerland started the Burgol brand. His son Alfred would soon be involved in the company, and through Alfred’s wife Sophie-Marie Egger’s family, they had access to proper manufacturing facilities in the Swiss region Aarwangen. Here, the range was broadened and the company Burgol developed to become a well-renowned, though never super big, actor in the shoe care industry.
Burgol, a renowned name in shoe care. Image: Burgol.eu
The family who owned Burgol had, during the 21st century, an agent with an agent in Germany, where the brand was relatively large. What happened was that this agent registered the Burgol brand in the EU and the rest of the world, and began to produce Burgol products on its own in France. Original Burgol only had registered the brand in Switzerland, so this was the only place that the family that owned the original factory could sell under that brand. Clearly not ideal, and therefore they had to start a new brand in order to be able to continue selling their stuff around the world. A difficult situation that they ended up in, and it is a little strenuous to hear and read the various explanations given from among others retailers to why both Burgol and Siegol now exist.
Very nice goat hair brush from Siegol.
Therefore, Siegol was started, which is exactly the same products that Burgol was previously, only under other name. Those who used the products will recognize both cans and the range of brushes and other things. Their stuff is of a very high quality level, for example the cream is extra good to use on crust leather since the mixture contains a little less wax which otherwise tends to form bright streaks in the creases on crust leather. Since it’s so new, Siegol is so far relatively hard to access, there is not even a website yet (correction from a reader, apparently they have their own site now at SIegol.de. English version not sorted correctly yet, but you find the entire range here), but for example the Swiss online store Sancho Store sells a wide range. Hopefully they will get Siegol up and running well in the future, the fact that it is good stuff is already well established.
Siegel’s cylindrical shoe cream can. All Siegol photos: Sancho Store
I hope more online retailers that ships globally starts selling Siegol so I can get the authentic stuff.
I am really interested in the Shoe Creams and Yak Hair Brush.
Philip: Yeah, and apparently they do have their own site (just didn’t find it through Google, but got a tip from a reader), at Siegol.de. English version a bit behind, but full range is there.
Jesper,
Too bad they don’t ship to Southeast Asia.
The company has it’s own website, but only in german so far: http://www.siegol.ch
There also is a Webshop and links to Retailshops in Germany and Belgium.
By the way: I have a Yak hair brush in use: it simply is breathtaking! Give it a try and you’ll see: it’s a class of it’s own!
Thanks for the info. I am now more excited about the yak hair brush
I may opt to buy Burgol’s Yak hair brush instead. Siegol’s webshop does not respond to emails requesting assistance with payment processing errors. A pity.
Olivier S,
Finally got my Siegol Yak Hair Brush, 2 actually. However, I have to say I am not impressed w/ the shine it produces. I used it on my shoe that I have just mirror shined and it removed/ damaged the shine. The shine I get from the Yak hair is about the same as my horsehair brushes. Thankfully a dab of water and some good elbow grease w/ my microfiber cloth restored the shine. I have to wonder if I am using the Yak Hair brush wrong, I apply the same pressure as my other brushes, Horsehair and goat hair.
I currently prefer Kirby Allison’s Hanger Project branded Goat Hair Brush as it produces a better shine at a fraction of the cost, USD 16 as I recall.
My process is that I usually use horsehair then goat hair after the shoe cream is absorbed by the shoe then apply wax polish then buff w/ goat hair then use water & a microfiber cloth.
Phillip
My understanding of the yak hair brush is that it only for taking fine dust off shoes . Like you have used them all day and still need to attend a business dinner in the evening and do not have time to carry out the full performance . The others and cloths are for the bigger purpose.